The inaugural Canadian Blues Music Awards took place Monday, March 30 at the The Phoenix Concert Theatre, marking the launch of a new national blues awards program in Canada. The event featured 16 competitive categories and brought together artists and industry professionals from across the country.<\/p>\n
Brandon Isaak was the night\u2019s top winner, earning Electric Blues Recording of the Year, Blues Song of the Year for \u201cWalkin\u2019 With The Blues,\u201d and Blues Guitarist of the Year, all for his album Walkin\u2019 With The Blues. Steve Marriner was named Blues Producer of the Year for his work on Hear My Heart, This Old Life by Big Dave McLean, and YEAH! by David Gogo.<\/p>\n
Sue Foley won Acoustic Blues Recording of the Year for One Guitar Woman, A Tribute to the Female Pioneers of Guitar. Crystal Shawanda took Female Blues Vocalist of the Year for Sing Pretty Blues, while Marcus Trummer won Male Blues Vocalist of the Year for From The Start. Kenny \u201cBlues Boss\u201d Wayne was named Blues Keyboard Player of the Year for Ooh, Yeah!, and Ollee Owens won Emerging Blues Artist or Group of the Year for Nowhere to Hide.<\/p>\n
Additional winners included Guy B\u00e9langer and Steve Marriner, who tied for Blues Harmonica Player of the Year, and Jim Casson and Sylvain \u201cSly\u201d Coulombe, who tied for Blues Drummer of the Year. Jerry Cook won Blues Horn Player of the Year, Jasmine Colette was named Blues Bassist of the Year, and The Harpoonist won Blues Video of the Year for \u201cShow Me The Green.\u201d Bruce Morel and Ken Simms shared Blues Industry Person of the Year honors.<\/p>\n
Tim Williams received the Lifetime Achievement Award. Blue Moon Marquee was named Fan Favourite Blues Artist or Group of the Year.<\/p>\n
The awards are organized by the Canadian Blues Music Awards, an independent, not-for-profit organization formed in 2024 to establish a national blues recognition program. Winners were selected by a jury of industry professionals from across Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Canadian Blues Music Awards represents a complete overhaul,\u201d said Quisha Wint. \u201cA whole new programme created to serve the Canadian blues community with greater transparency, fairness, and unity from coast to coast to coast.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ceremony also featured performances from Steve Marriner, Crystal Shawanda, Kenny \u201cBlues Boss\u201d Wayne, Brandon Isaak, and Dana Wylie of Secondhand Dreamcar. Host Danny Marks opened the event, with an after-party performance lineup that included Glenn Marais and The Mojo Train, Ollee Owens, JP LeBlanc, and Secondhand Dreamcar.<\/p>\n
2025 Canadian Blues Music Awards Winners<\/p>\n
Emerging Blues Artist or Group of the Year
Ollee Owens \u2013 Nowhere to Hide<\/p>\n
Blues Song of the Year
Brandon Isaak \u2013 \u201cWalkin\u2019 With The Blues\u201d (Walkin\u2019 With The Blues)<\/p>\n
Acoustic Blues Recording of the Year
Sue Foley \u2013 One Guitar Woman, A Tribute to the Female Pioneers of Guitar<\/p>\n
Electric Blues Recording of the Year
Brandon Isaak \u2013 Walkin\u2019 With The Blues<\/p>\n
Blues Producer of the Year
Steve Marriner \u2013 Hear My Heart; Big Dave McLean \u2013 This Old Life; David Gogo \u2013 YEAH!<\/p>\n
Female Blues Vocalist of the Year
Crystal Shawanda \u2013 Sing Pretty Blues<\/p>\n
Male Blues Vocalist of the Year
Marcus Trummer \u2013 From The Start<\/p>\n
Blues Guitarist of the Year
Brandon Isaak \u2013 Walkin\u2019 With The Blues<\/p>\n
Blues Keyboard Player of the Year
Kenny \u201cBlues Boss\u201d Wayne \u2013 Ooh, Yeah!<\/p>\n
Blues Harmonica Player of the Year (Tie)
Guy B\u00e9langer \u2013 Postcards from London
Steve Marriner \u2013 Hear My Heart; Big Dave McLean \u2013 This Old Life; David Gogo \u2013 YEAH!<\/p>\n
Blues Horn Player of the Year
Jerry Cook \u2013 All Fired Up<\/p>\n
Blues Drummer of the Year (Tie)
Jim Casson \u2013 Canboro Canborough
Sylvain \u201cSly\u201d Coulombe \u2013 Our Time To Ride<\/p>\n
Blues Bassist of the Year
Jasmine Colette \u2013 New Orleans Sessions<\/p>\n
Blues Video of the Year
The Harpoonist \u2013 \u201cShow Me The Green\u201d (Did We Come Here To Dance)<\/p>\n
Blues Industry Person of the Year (Tie)
Bruce Morel \u2013 Morel Music International
Ken Simms \u2013 Think Tank Music Network<\/p>\n
Lifetime Achievement Award
Tim Williams<\/p>\n
Fan Favourite Blues Artist or Group of the Year
Blue Moon Marquee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The inaugural Canadian Blues Music Awards took place Monday, March 30 at the The Phoenix Concert Theatre, marking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":["post-574315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}